Vancouver Saint

So can't be bothered any more. Even when we play moderately okay you just know we will contrive a way to lose. When we were 1-0 up at half time my Arsenal friend texted me 'Come on you Saints!'...I texted back 1-4 to Liverpool final score...so I was out by a goal - but real reality for us is so predictable. If we were a horse we'd have been shot by now...can't wait for this misery of a season to be over. Vultures have been circling for weeks. We have the joy of watching our best players be bought from under us and being left with crap and a total rebuild in the Championship next year. Juric has to go, but SR will probably bottle that. Rohl a glimmer of hope if he gets hired early, after we've been relegated so it's not on his record, with enough time and money to rebuild over the summer.

Ha! I am so disengaged from this pile of crap I didn't even realise there was a game today until I chanced on the (entirely predictable) result. I don't believe anyone sets out to fail, let alone fail as spectacularly as we have done - but SR is rotten to the core and needs to be cleaned out from top to bottom. I don't blame Dragan so much - think he's a victim too. He's put the cash in and put his trust in the SR team who sold him a dream. If he's made a mistake it's tolerating gross incompetence too long. I look straight at Rasmus Wankersun. His over-confidence and belief in himself led to what must be the single most devastatingly bad managerial appointment ever in Nathan Jones - that was the catalyst that put the club in a death-spiral (accelerated by some furthur mind-numbingly bad managerial and recruitment decisions). Anyone still think Hasenhutl isn't the worldclass manager he clearly is/was? So it's done. Juric is not the right guy to lead us next season in the Championship. Not all his fault but he's also not right. We need someone youthful, energetic, who wins football matches and makes individual players better players, but builds a team first and foremost. Someone who realises that this is a game about goals. And that after five years or more - we need goalscorers. It's going to be a long rebuild my friends.

Meantime back at the ranch - Moyes defines Mew Manager Bounce with our friend Charlie Alcaraz scoring the winner for four wins in a row. Us, we didn't even get a dead cat bounce. Just a deeper hole.

Nailed it. I only saw the second half because i just couldn't be bothered to get up earlier to watch...correctly predicted we'd be 2-0 down at half time (but had us down to lose 3-0 so Sulemana goal a bonus. There was a brief 10 minutes after we'd scored that if we'd scored again it could have been interesting. Of course we concede again to eliminate any chance of a nervous last few minutes for them. Thought Aribo played well, Fernandes, Dibbling, Ramsdale, Sulemana. Onuachu needs to get infront of his man and be more aggressive in the box. Juric? - anyone who plays Smallbone, let alone starts with him is an automatic incompetent red card in my book. I've had enough of him already.

Two incredibly boring teams in an incredibly boring match. Did we have a shot on target after they scored? Does Juric really think Will 'gamechanger' Smallbone is the answer to anything? Fortunately, SR have done an incredible job of detaching me emotionally from the club I've supported for over 50 years. I just don't care .

I'm interested to see if there's a gap in quality between bottom of the Premier (by a mile) and top of the Championship...

Yea, a win! Happy for Juric and the team. Watching two well-matched Championship teams here, but what was clear was the players putting a real shift in for the manager despite our position. Thought both our debutants showed promise. Fresh blood with no baggage made a difference. Lots of adversity with injuries and forced changes and we kept going. Joe Aribo my MOTM. We need a new, big CB or two - you'd have thought Juric cou;ld've found a Croatian hard-man CB...don't they specialise in those?

Was out so watched the recording of the game...thought we looked like a proper football team for much of the game...no fear, good quick passing interplay....Sulemana taking the Mickey out of their right-back...some freedom and joy back in our play, Fernandes should have scored earlier and a two-goal cushion would probably have been enough. Of course at the 81st minute I just knew we'd find a way to lose it and predicted a 2-1 or 3-1 loss...true enough. I don't understand why we didn't keep Fernandes on to see the game out - and Aribo for that matter. They were at game speed and in control. Our subs made us much weaker. Feel bad for Juric and the players...deserved at least a point from that game. Man Utd looked rubbish all the same.

Well we actually won a game of football - that's a novelty and something to hopefully build on. I actually hear the commentator say "Southampton are too sharp for them" - not words we've heard this season. Swansea a very average mid-table Championship team though, playing Russball with even less talent on the pitch than we have. Thought we weren't very good actually. Everybody singing Aribo's praise but thought he looked sluggish today. Sulemana good in the first half. Dibbling in the right places at the right time. But all our goals more about poor defending than great attacking. Smallbone's cameo hopefully enough to show Ivan he should never start - no tackle, and pass it backwards or sideways every time. Missed opportunity to get Onuachu off the mark?

Honestly we are are pretty crap aren't we. Am I the only one underwhelmed by Ramsdale? He's a spectacular shot-stopper but a terrible 'preventative' goalkeeper...hardly dominates his six-yard box let alone the penalty box...doesn't come out enough to claim high balls for me. Cost us these last two games. No real complaints about the result - Palace were the better team. But no surprises that ultimately a non-VAR call has yet again gone against us...it was 50:50 IMO - Ramsdale needed to be stronger (or protected by an Onuachu at the near post) ...we all just know if that was us scoring that goal it would have been disallowed. We just don't create enough chances. Second half proving again, we are not fit enough and don't have enough skill in attack. How long will it take IJ to realise AA is not up to it...especially when he's allowed to be even more invisible on the wing. Onuachu should pair with Archer...the former was taken off when the latter came on. Manning coming on as our saviour to find a last minute goal - what a joke. So we need a striker in January who will stay with us once we're relegated. Ironically, our very average PL journeymen strikers are probably good enough for the Championship. We need better central defenders to meet minimum PL requirements. Bednarak has to be told not to haul people back. So it's plan for the Championship for sure now.

Posting before reading others...having let the dust settle on that. Completely different game, same result: no goals and no points. But it would be a huge mistake to draw the same conclusions that nothing's changed after RM. We so deserved something from that game. First half we should have scored at least two...and yes so should have Wet Spam scored at least one - I thought they were pretty ordinary. The difference was a sloppy error to concede an unnecessary corner and then poor defending of the subsequent attack you just knew they were going to score from. Does anyone else think Ramsdale could/should have done better? - with high looping balls he should be commanding his six-yard box...he came for it and then retreated. This is why Arsenal dropped him. Tall Paul played extremely well and lasted the full 90 minutes. Super unlucky not to score. But again, we just can't seem to buy a goal. Fernandes should have scored too. What a waste of 16 games when you see how differently we can play, even with a below-average squad. IJ did most things right for me...perhaps the only thing I'd have done differently was play Archer instead of Armstrong, but I'm guessing he was playing the high-pressing game and Archer doesn't works as hard without the ball as Armstrong...plus he's our penalty-taker. I think Tall Paul and Archer is the combo. Not enough pressure from us second half, but at least IJ recognised that and tried to change it up. As I said, would have bought Archer on for Adams after they scored.

Good battling point playing non-suicidal football. I know it's been said many times before but let me get it off my chest... It is criminal we let RM play his little ideological game for so long. Swansea fans told us exactly what we were getting with his suicide pass-it-out-from-the-back-and-concede-chances modus operandi - and we got it. Credit him for getting promotion from the Championship (although honestly, it was a very close-run thing). We have paid millions to RM to educate him. He will be a better manager because of us...a little less ideological? a little less arrogant? We are a weaker team because of him. SR needed to make the change earlier as everyone has observed...those three or four points we might well have gained from five or six games could have made all the difference... Now, it's just build up what strength we can, get some fighting spirit and positivity back into the club...and build a core of players who will stay with us an can build on in the Championship. Commentator used the word 'delusional' in reference to us staying up...and I don't blame him...but it would be dreamland to prove them wrong all the same

Well, fast enough an appointment to suggest SR had been thinking about this...what do we know about him as a manager? - me, nada.

So much better everything. Saints fans still in their seats right until the end with the team competing until the end. Same players, different energy, mentality and approach. Relegation pretty much a certainty as a consequence of hanging on to Martin for too long - but at least some optimism we'll salvage some pride in what remains of the season.

Good post from Francis1947 way back in the thread. SR my concern here. RM earned 10 games in the PL to prove himself...it was very clear well before then that he was out of his depth. For me the Leicester game at home was the breaking point...2-0 up at half-time...a bad goal to make it 2-1 and change the momentum...the game screamed for some experience, a calm head and control in the middle of the pitch...with Lallana on the bench he brings on...a not fully recovered Smallbone who re-injures himself within 10 mins and doesn't touch the ball once. It told me this guy plays favourites, not skill or what the team needs. Rasmus Ankerson should be the next to stand up and admit his performance has been terrible. I blame him for our precipitous fall with the outrageous gamble on Nathan Jones - surely the worst PL Managerial appointment ever when we were in a position to hire a considerable managerial talent. compounded by the 'cop out' Selles appointment. It is abundantly clear Ankerson was not the magic in the potion at Brentford. Moving forward. Dragan to get a fellow investor at the same level. Ankerson out. Get a decent Director of Football, someone who knows football (duh). For Manager...I'm a dreamer...would still like Potter...sold on a three-year deal along the lines of we expect to be relegated this season - miracle turnaround if not...bring us back up as a proper PL club within three years. Otherwise, Moyes short-term to get the best out of our senior players and restore some defensive stability.

This.

My comments before reading others. Beaten relatively comfortably by a Villa B-team that could and should have added more goals in the last 20 mins (Emery knows how to rest players, conserve energy and bring high calibre players on at the end who should have put that game to bed much earlier). That said, we played not badly. Definitely the better team for the first 20 mins. Scuppered by a defensive mistake from HB and some pretty bad keeping by Lumley (could he have tried to make his big frame any smaller I ask myself?) Lumley was a liability throughout. Walker-Peters again showing his class, Dibbling too but has had better games. Downes good. Aribo good when he came on. Wood played well - still young but in a better team would look better. Fernandes had his worst game for us I think, just nothing happening for him and off the pace, dispossessed several times. Archer not great today. AA in normal role of hard-working runner with no goal threat. We have a losing culture that is very hard to shake off. RM may not have the quality of players or squad others have but he still is out of his depth. We are totally devoid of ideas or cutting edge when we do reach the top of the opposition's third of the field. It's almost like there's an invisible line where our players stop, turn around and pass it back. You just know that the ball will make it all the way back to our keeper and we'll gift possession away from there under pressure in our own third of the field. What were the Villa fans singing? I couldn't make it out but the commentators were implying it was something like "It's time to give us the ball" when we were playing out from our six-yard box. We did oblige as normal - they just didn't finish. Anyway, it's clear to me that SR are okay with us being relegated, will keep RM on until the end of the season short of fans staging walk-out protests and plan to 'strengthen for the long-term'. I think they have no idea how fortunate we were to get out of the Championship at the first attempt last season. Once we've lost all our best players and blown what little they'll reinvest on terrible recruitment reality will bite...for those who are happy with an instant return to the championship. It's been a dire season so far. Never felt quite so detached, dis-engaged and disinterested in the team I've supported for over 55 years. 😳

Southampton B vs Chelsea A...should be a giggle. Either an incredible performance from out-and-out underdogs to cling on to a 0-0 draw...or 0-6 Chelsea. I don't think Wassisname the Chelsea manager is someone to let us off the hook by playing his B or C team. Think he'll get 3-0 up with the A team then swap out players. Naturally, am hoping I'm wrong...

Leicester going to take Van Nistelroy is my bet - why can't our owners see an opportunity like that?!

And so we continue to find new ways to lose games... Russell Martin is every other PL manager's useful idiot....they must be praying we keep him employed so they can Pass Go and collect their three points.

I said at the beginning of the season give him 10 games....I stuck with that through gritted teeth...final straw for me was the Leicester game when at 2-1 up and the momentum swinging against us, he brought on a recovering-from-injury Smallbone (who shouldn't be anywhere near a PL team IMHO) leaving Lallana on the bench! Confirmed that he is a totally clueless manager who puts the dressing room culture/players before the customers - us mug fans who are victims of having had the club choose us (think Harry Potter's wand)...in my case for the last 55 years as a supporter. He is denying someone else the opportunity of salvaging our reputation and PL status. Must go now.

Do you think SR are so committed to RM they have already accepted relegation and are building to dominate in the Championship next year? Do you think they understand how naive that approach is? (If we have ambitions to be a competitive PL team). If they do not change things this international break it will be too late for any new manager to get us to fourth worst team in the league. I would like to see Graham Potter come in. Wishful thinking I know but...

Enough now. Please give us a better manager and better players. 70% possession - 0 shots on target. The RM way. Yes, Flynn Downes injury unlucky, and a bad VAR decision against us, but we didn't set up 'brave' dear Martin...you set up to repeat the Everton scenario...contain and try to win in the last 20 mins bringing Dibbling on...that got blown in the second minute. Got what we deserved. Again. Bugger all.

1-1 We will try to contain them instead of going for the jugular from the off. Will set up 5-4-1. Do our normal 62% possession...90% in our own third passing sideways across our own penalty box until someone gifts it to Wolves to score. 1-0 down at half time, we continue the same pattern...introduce Dibbling and probably tall Paul on 60 mins (because that's the plan)...score an equaliser within 10 mins...then revert back to trying to defend a draw rather than go for a winner. Could be wrong...

Take the result but an underwhelming performance overall. Lesley had a mare, Ramsdale less than convincing, Sugawara poor, Cornet very rusty, Fraser a nonentity, BBD added nothing, even Fernandes had an off-day. Tried hard to throw it away at the end but Bree came to the rescue... Squeaked through against a second-string back four that had only played 11 first team games combined!